50 students majoring in Sport Science from the Faculty of Sport Centre, , University of Malaya (UM) organised an OKU Leisure & Sports Day recently. One of their subjects is building community ties targeting special needs students for social inclusion in sports. They used sports and games as a tool for them to have fun and gain fitness. 48 Buddy Club members from primary schools took part in the event. Bronze medalist in the men’s 72.1kg Glasgow 2014 heavyweight powerlifter Jong Yee Khie also attended to give a motivation talk. Despite losing his right leg in an accident at the age … Continued

Empowering the poor and underprivileged, promoting sustainable economic growth Kuala Lumpur – The World Islamic Economic Forum Foundation (WIEF) through its WIEF Education Trust (WET) organised the first WIEF Social Entrepreneurship Challenge (SEC) – a programme aimed for students in higher education in Malaysia to present their business idea to empower the poor and underprivileged communities in Malaysia. The programme is an initiative to create a win-win outcome for all students, the corporate sector and the Malaysian community concerned, in the hope of those participating in this programme to think, question and undertake research into new concepts that would benefit … Continued

Ready. Lights! Camera! A new social enterprise, SilentSHOUT, organised a film-making workshop for the deaf community recently. The two-day workshop was held in Brickfields and enabled persons who are deaf or hard of hearing to gain knowledge in the field of film-making. Participants were taught on production, scriptwriting, directing, camera, lighting design and editing under the guidance of workshop facilitator Kareem Koh. Organiser Nurul Oyun said, “We believe in hands-on projects, as the process provide the opportunity for learners to learn new skills and encourage proactive participation. She added that the workshop is to enable persons who are deaf or … Continued

Book Review. Kebaya Tales : of matriarchs, maidens, mistresses and matchmakers is a delightful collection of short stories, teeming with fascinating and interesting characters, unexpected twists and turns, cultural rituals, beliefs and superstitions and poignant events in the life stories of the Peranakans. Lee Su Kim’s latest book brings you into another world, a world that many know little about—the world of the Babas and Nyonyas or the Straits Chinese, a colourful, flamboyant and unique community still in existence today in the former Straits Settlements of Malacca, Penang and Singapore. This is a first-ever collection of short stories of a … Continued

By Mohd Hafiz Abd Rahman Where there is a will there is a way and this is what deaf student Mohd Afifi Ishak has set out to do. A student of Diploma in Graphic Design majoring in Multimedia at Limkokwing University of Creative Technology (LUCT) in Cyberjaya, he has decided to work hard and carve a future for himself. Currently in his final semester, Mohd Afifi, 23 and the fourth of eight siblings, completed his eight-week internship at Essential Associates Sdn Bhd, publisher of the magazine Challenges which focuses on disability issues. He returned to LUCT in February and … Continued

College Beat Eka Diah Gun Hernanti, 21, is an internatonal student from Jakarta. With some assistance from her cousin, Tatik Fatimah, Eka finds her way around Sunway to attend class. Facilities, she described, are friendly for the physically challenged; if not, there is always a way around it. She is currently pursuing her Second Year Bachelor of Business twinning programme with Victoria University at Sunway University College, and will soon transfer to Victoria University in Melbourne for her final year. Having lived in Malaysia for the past three years since she started doing her CIMP (Canadian International matriculation Programme) … Continued

LEARNING Hearing Loss No Excuse; So Share Ideas Selina Ooi was tasked with presenting a paper on “Eliciting User Requirements for Designing a Mobile Community for the Deaf in Malaysia” at an international forum. Ooi, who is Deaf, was a participant in the 21st International Symposium on Human Factors in Telecommunication (HFT2008), held in Renaissance Kuala Lumpur Hotel, Kuala Lumpur. About 100 people from all over the world took part in the conference, organised by Multimedia University and sponsored be Telenor, Multimedia Development Corporation (MDeC), Panasonic Design Company (Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.) and Yahoo! Inc. The HFT2008 was a … Continued